Dianne Whelan and her partner Louisa reached this small community above the Arctic Circle in October 2019, after a daunting 3,500-kilometre canoe trip from Alberta via the Peace River, the Slave River, Great Slave Lake, the Mackenzie River and the Arctic Ocean. They paddled among islands, through vast landscapes of muskeg and black spruce, and past towering mountains. While Whelan both hiked and canoed during her long quest to complete the Trail, she says the water routes were her favourites. “Camping is really beautiful, because you’re in remote sections,” she says. “The rivers take us places that the roads don’t.” 

Both Whelan and Julie Chatelain mention the north shore of Lake Superior as a must-see part of the Trans Canada Trail. “The rocks, the blue water, the wind,” is how Chatelain succinctly summarizes the appeal of the shoreline trails.
Whelan paddled the Lake Superior Water Trail, which connects Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay and is almost 1,000 kilometres long. “I actually didn’t see a human being for close to a month,” she recalls. “That was really an amazing personal experience.”

This area of the Trans Canada Trail will seem familiar to many art lovers, as the Group of Seven frequently painted there throughout the 1920s. Lawren Harris’s North Shore Lake Superior is one of the best known of the artworks they created.

“The Fundy Trail was phenomenal and we felt we were on the West Coast. It was so beautiful,” says Chatelain. Going east from Salmon River, trails of varying lengths and difficulties take hikers across gorges, beside a five-tier waterfall and along the edges of wind-blown cliffs overlooking the Bay of Fundy. The Fundy Trail is easy to reach for casual day hiking, as the western access gate is roughly 11 kilometres from the village of St. Martins.

Chatelain and Lanoix mention this remote spot in central Newfoundland, where four hills tower above a sweep of rocky tundra, as one of the highlights of their Trans Canada Trail travels.

On a ship, a topsail is a sail set above another sail on a mast. Given the province’s maritime history, it’s not surprising that Newfoundlanders would name these prominent hills Main Topsail, Mizzen Topsail, Gaff Topsail and Fore Topsail.
The Topsails are located in one of the most isolated sections of T’Railway Provincial Park. Far from any road, they’re only accessible on foot, by bike or by off-road vehicle. “It’s absolutely rugged,” says Lanoix of the area. He adds, with a tinge of regret, “Because it’s so difficult to get to, most people will not experience this.”

Gray Creek Pass is an 80-kilometre, summer-only route linking the small community of Gray Creek to the outskirts of the city of Kimberley in southeastern British Columbia. The pass is a dirt-and-gravel forestry road, used by hikers, mountain bikers and vehicles. The trail offers challenges for users—in the first 15 kilometres after Gray Creek alone, it climbs some 1,500 metres—but the rewards are great, including stunning views of Oliver Lake, Mount Loki and the Kokanee Glacier.

Many users travel the Trans Canada Trail on foot, by bike or by canoe, but it’s also possible to explore it on horseback. This wilderness area on the Alberta side of Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park features riding trails ranging from easy to challenging. The equestrian campground in the Battle Creek Valley has a paddock, pens and tie stalls. And at Fort Walsh National Historic Site, visitors can learn about the history of the North West Mounted Police and participate in an Indigenous Culture Camp.

The Chief Whitecap Waterway follows the South Saskatchewan River for over 100 kilometres from the Gardiner Dam to the edge of Saskatoon. Waterway users travelling its length may spot pelicans, deer, jackrabbits and coyotes as they paddle through the territory of the Whitecap Dakota First Nation, which partnered with Trans Canada Trail to develop this waterway along a traditional trading route.
Chief Whitecap, for whom the waterway is named, played a major role in the region’s 19th-century history. When John Lake arrived in the area in 1882, seeking a place to found a new temperance colony, Whitecap suggested the site of what is now Saskatoon.

This urban trail leads hikers, cyclists, skiers and snowshoers 93 kilometres through Manitoba’s largest city. One small downtown section, easily done in a day, includes some of Winnipeg’s biggest attractions.

Now a National Historic Site, this small church was built in 1855 to serve a growing population of African-American refugees settling in St. Catharines. It replaced a series of smaller churches on the same site; the oldest, built in 1814, was one of the first Black churches in Ontario.

While the simple style is similar to that of other churches linked to the Underground Railroad, this chapel has a special history: Famed Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman was a member of the congregation in the 1850s. Today, visitors can discover it while hiking the nearby Laura Secord Legacy Trail.